


Hi Fi Low Lights

by Missy



Category: Happy Days
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Introspection, Technology, Television, Television Watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 21:32:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/531955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four television sets the Cunninghams have owned and how - in Howard's eyes - they've changed the family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hi Fi Low Lights

**Author's Note:**

> written for Cottoncandy_bingo '12, promp: television

It was black and white, twelve by twelve, and took up too much space in Howard’s estimation. Marion had discovered it on sale at the back of Slotnik’s showroom, just a bit underpriced, cheaper than what the Piccolos had paid for their set in ’58. They had a growing family, and wouldn’t it be safer for Joanie to spend her afternoons listening to Pattie Paige than hanging on a streetcorner with those gossiping girls? And Richie needed a creative outlet – he was spending too much time with that Potsie boy, and ought to be spending more time with wholesome activities. Like the Lone Ranger.

Bless Marion. That was just how her mind worked.

Howard ended up bargaining Junior Slotnik down to fifty percent off the price tag - the guy owed him because he’d helped cordon off his parking lot for the Fourth of July - and brought it home for his wife’s birthday. The elation in her eyes brimmed with power enough to light up the entire block 

*** 

It was the first color TV on the block, and Fonzie got it for them wholesale because he was on ‘excellent terms’ with a shipping supplier in New York. Howard didn’t entirely trust the streetwise young man who had recently moved into the apartment over his garage, but he knew Fonzie wanted his respect. So Howard let him buy the set, install it in the living room, and even let him select the first program the family would watch in full, blazing, stereophonic color. 

Heckle and Jeckle were still as antic as they had been in black and white, but the backgrounds they danced before were crisp and brightly lit.

Howard wasn’t sure what the world was coming to. If you wanted to see the world in full color, all you had to do was step outside your door. That’s where the trees swayed in full bloom and the sun set and rose every day. But his kids weren’t as lazy as their compatriots. Richie still went roaring around in his souped-up car, and Joanie – who was getting disturbingly taller and disturbingly brighter every day – still rode bikes with Jenny Piccolo. But their attraction to the idiot box was just as strong as his to an afternoon pipe and a morning meal.

He took off his reading glasses and watched the screen in contemplation. Those colors were pretty pleasant to look at after all. And there was no reason to ignore it and waste electricity...

*** 

The screen was four times as big as anything Howard had ever seen. There were dials to the right to help you switch channels (there was more than one channel now, though all of them seemed to blither about the same things), and an antenna on top to strengthen the signal. 

It was good old Fonzie who installed the antenna – well, he and some students from his shop class. It was their final project, something Howard was proud to note – and completed entirely with Cunningham hardware tools. They all gathered together to watch Flipper in the living room – a living room which had seen a lot of change in the past few years. Richie was off in Alaska with his new wife; Joanie had gone off to New York to chase stardom with Chachi. Ralph Malph was in the army, though that Potsie kid still hung around like a bad smell.

But there were new faces, the sort that made him feel happy and young. Young KC, his niece, and Roger, a friend of Fonzie’s; all of the kids who hung around at the new Arnolds, and Fonzie’s young charges. His family called back to the nest once a week, and he and Marian were as close and as spry as ever.

They would get by, no matter what the world threw at them. With that firmly decided, Howard fiddled with the dial, smiled as the picture snapped into focus, and then sat down with a smile to watch.

Goldie Hawn looked a lot better in widescreen. 

*** 

“What do they call this?” Howard asked, squinting and poking at the many cables wending their way out of the back of the television set.

“Cable TV, gramps,” Richie Junior said, grinning as he emerged from beneath the set, wiping his brow. 

“And that right there?” he asked, poking the expensive machine his son had sent for Christmas with his toe.

“A VCR,” he said. “And I think it’s ready.” He clapped his grandfather on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m gonna take my kids down to Arnolds with Aunt Joanie. Okay?”

Howard nodded. “Say hello to Fonzie for me?”

“Sure, Grandpa.” Little Richie pressed play and grabbed his coat, then left the room.

The screen went blue, then flipped to brilliant life. Howard grinned and leaned in, amazed by the progress the little box had made in only a few decades. Once, Richie had been forced to wear freckles to get on TV; now he grinned out from the screen, relaxed and happy, holding a piece of paper.

“Hey dad,” he said. “I’m writing a story about us.” There was that pure-hearted Richard Cunningham smile, beautiful and as vibrant as it would be if he were standing in the room with them. “I want to know what you and mom think about it – tell little Richie and he’ll tell me. I really hope it makes you happy….” And then he read the libretto of the comic opera that was his life. “These were the best days of my life. The happy days…”

The End


End file.
